Aaron and Emily: Cradle to Grave
by LacytheRomanWerewolf
Summary: Time for Hotch to step down and a twist on the conversation with Strauss to make us all hate her just a little more. HP JRo


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Lacy here. This one's been bouncing around for a while so here we go. We all know this episode starts with a visit from our least favorite person. Yes Strauss. Yes that also means I'm going to start this story with that conversation. But I'm throwing a little something more in there just to make us all hate Strauss more. Though, don't know about you but for me I'm not sure that's possible. Let's find out. Have fun!

Disclaimer: Can you guess what I would have changed if I owned it?

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~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Hotch moved to leave JJ's office so she could go home. There was no telling the mental damage Dave could do to Henry when left alone too long. Though Hotch knew Dave loved Henry more than anything, the man was who he was. Best friend or not, there were some stories Dave had told Hotch that he never wanted to know, who knows what he could say to a baby thinking the poor thing would never remember.

"Oh Hotch." JJ called. He turned back. "Em wanted me to remind you that it's your turn to make dinner."

Hotch checked his watch and smiled. "Guess I'm going home too."

JJ laughed. "Yeah."

Hotch gave JJ another smile before making his way to his office. He'd just grab a few files and then be off. He knew better then to leave a pregnant woman alone for too long. He walked into his office and stopped dead. Oh great.

"Chief Strauss." Hotch said.

Strauss faced him. "Aaron, we need to talk. Close the door."

Hotch felt a chill settle over the room as he did as he was told. This was not going to go well.

"There are two things we need to talk about." Strauss said. "And neither are good."

Hotch moved to stand by his desk, hoping he could eye ball which files he needed as Strauss talked.

"The first being?" Hotch asked.

"Your relationship with Agent Prentiss." Strauss said, being blunt as usual.

Hotch shot his gaze from his desk to the woman in his office. Screw the files, Strauss just sent him from annoyed to pissed in record time.

"What about it?" Hotch asked, trying to keep his tone level.

"While I know you have been romantically involved with Agent Prentiss for over a year now," Strauss said. "it has come to my attention that Agent Prentiss is expecting a child, which I assume is yours."

Hotch clenched his hands. She had no right even thinking about his and Emily's child.

"Yes the child Emily is expecting is mine." Hotch said. "But I'm not sure why that matters."

"Well it leads me to my second topic." Strauss said.

"If you don't mind ma'am I'm tired and as you pointed out have a pregnant girlfriend to go home to, could you just skip to the point of this?" Hotch asked, trying and he knew failing to sound polite. He could have left out the comment about Emily but Strauss opened that door.

Strauss narrowed her gaze. "It has been agreed on that you may no longer be fit to run this unit and now that you've gotten a subordinate pregnant,"

Hotch stepped forward, his glare hard. "Do not use Emily and our child as part of your agenda. Our relationship has never effected how we work, in or out of the field and that isn't going to change."

Strauss flinched and broke Hotch's gaze, as most did when confronted with his glare.

"Be that as it may, a decision as been made. Either you step down as leader and take a place as a subordinate on your team and place another of your agents in charge or there will be a full investigation into your actions and I think you know what that means for your team." Strauss said.

She didn't have to say it but Hotch heard the silent 'and Agent Prentiss.' on the end of Strauss' sentence.

"Do I get to pick who takes my place?" Hotch asked.

Strauss nodded. "But make the choice fast Agent Hotchner."

With that she turned and left his office. Hotch clenched his jaw and stared at the far wall of his office.

"Hotch?"

He heard JJ come in.

"Yeah?" he said, not turning to face her.

"Is everything ok?" she asked.

Hotch sighed. "I don't know JJ. Can you tell Dave I need him here early tomorrow? We have something to talk about."

JJ nodded. "I'll let him know." she bit her lip. "I don't know what just happened Hotch but go home. Talk to Em. Please don't sit here and stew all night."

Hotch looked at JJ and saw her genuine concern. "Wait two seconds and I'll walk out with you."

JJ smiled softly. "Ok."

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Emily looked up from the book she was reading as Hotch came through the door. They had agreed they were going to need to get a new apartment as both of their places only had two rooms and with the baby and Jack, who was coming home, they knew that wasn't enough. But for now they settled on staying at Emily place given that it was the larger of the two. She took one look at Hotch's face and stood up. Something wasn't right.

"Aaron?" Emily said, making her way to him. "What's wrong?"

Hotch sighed as he placed his service gun and back-up in the safe by the front door. He debated the whole way home on whether or not he was going to tell Emily about his last minute meeting with Strauss. The last thing he wanted was to worry her.

"Nothing Em, I'm fine." Hotch said as Emily stopped at his side. The look she gave him was similar to the one she had given him the first time he set foot in her apartment, before there was anything between them. He should have known he couldn't lie to her. "Strauss came to have a talk just before I came home."

Emily bit her lip. "What did she want?"

Hotch led Emily back over to the couch and replayed his conversation with Strauss. Hotch paused when he was done to let Emily process what he had told her. And the first emotion to cross Emily's face was anger. She was down right pissed at Strauss.

"What are you going to do?" Emily asked, trying to rein in the anger. It wasn't very good for the baby.

Hotch rubbed a hand over his eyes. "I'm going to have to step down. I don't see what other option there is. I won't let her put you or the team under a microscope."

Emily nodded. "Ok I understand that. Who are you going to put in charge?"

"I don't know yet. I'm going to talk with Dave tomorrow and I'd like you to be there as well." Hotch said. "I'm sure between the three of us we can figure out who can lead the team best."

Emily smiled. "You know it can't be Dave. He'll be so pissed he'll kill Strauss three hours into being chief."

Hotch pulled Emily onto his lap with a laugh. "If I don't do it first on straight principle."

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

"That evil witch." Dave said.

Emily looked at Hotch. "Told ya."

Hotch rolled his eyes. "Dave relax and sit down. We can't change what happened but what we can do is make sure this team doesn't fall apart."

Dave sat back down next to Emily. "Alright so who are you putting in charge?"

"I don't know." Hotch said. "I always thought if I ever had to step down or wasn't able to lead it would be you or Emily that would take my place. But as Emily pointed out last night you'll kill Strauss and,"

"Strauss will take up sky diving before letting me run the team." Emily finished. "Given that I'm not only in a relationship with Aaron but also pregnant by him, she won't let it happen."

Dave huffed. "If you'd let me have at Strauss, it would solve a long list of problems."

"And I'm sure JJ would love bringing Henry to visit you in jail." Hotch deadpanned.

"She'd understand." Dave said.

"That's beside the point Dave." Emily said. "We need to figure out who's gonna be in charge."

"There's really only one option left." Dave said.

Hotch nodded. "I know."

"Derek." Emily said. "Do we think he can do it?"

Hotch sighed. "At the moment I don't think we have a choice. It has to be him. Reid couldn't deal with handling Strauss plus everything else and JJ's got enough on her plate."

"So when are you going to tell him?" Dave asked.

"After this case. I'll work with him during it, get him into the role and then when we get home, I'll tell him." Hotch said.

Seeing the conflicting emotions on Hotch's face, Dave spoke his mind again. "I'm telling you both right now, my final act as an FBI agent will be to put Strauss in a place no one will ever find her."

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Emily sat at her desk, trying to finish her paperwork but knowing that right now in Hotch's office, he and Morgan were going over the job switch, she couldn't focus.

"Emily."

She looked up and saw Dave. "Yeah?"

"Get your work and come in here." Dave said. "If neither of us can work, it might as well be where no one can see us."

Emily smiled and after collecting a pile of files, made her way to Dave's office. Before she could even set foot in his office, Dave took her files from her.

"You shouldn't be carrying so much." Dave said.

Emily shook her head, a smile on her face. "Dave, it's just files, the baby is fine."

"Don't care, not taking any chances." Dave said, placing Emily's files down on the table in front of the couch in his office.

Emily took a seat on the couch. "How did JJ NOT kill you while she was pregnant?"

Dave shrugged. "You got me on that one. I know there were a few times where she wanted to."

"Between you and Aaron, I may go nuts." Emily said.

"As long as the baby's ok." Dave said.

Emily laughed.

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Morgan sighed as he and Hotch finished going over everything.

"I had no idea how much you do man." Morgan said.

Hotch shrugged. "I honestly stopped noticing how much it was, knowing what I was doing was making it easier for you guys to do your jobs."

"Does Em know what you do?" Morgan asked.

Hotch nodded. "She does only because I take it home with me and there have been occasions where she's helped me."

Morgan looked at his watch. "Time to call it quits I think." he looked out Hotch's window and noticed Emily was missing.

"Dave called her into his office about an hour ago." Hotch said. "She's probably asleep on his couch by now."

Morgan smiled. "Baby making her tired?"

Hotch smiled as well. "Yeah, as the pregnancy goes on, I'll probably bring her in here when we're in the office and let her take naps. She won't like it but it's better then her falling asleep at her desk."

"Let me know when you're going to do that the first time so I can set up a camera." Morgan said. "Cause we all know Em's gonna fight you."

Hotch laughed and stood up. "I know. Get out of here and get some sleep. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow, boss."

Morgan shook his head. "That just sounds so wrong." he gave Hotch a wave and left his office. Hotch stood in the doorway and watched Morgan collect his things and leave before grabbing his own jacket and briefcase and moving to Dave's office. With a light knock on the door, he entered.

"Well nice to know I was right." Hotch said, his voice quiet.

Dave looked up from his work and over at the sleeping woman on his couch. "She fell asleep about twenty minutes after I brought her in."

Hotch nodded. "I figured she'd fall asleep."

"I tried to get her to go home with JJ but she wouldn't." Dave said.

Hotch placed his things down in one of the guest chairs. "She wanted to be here in case I needed her."

Dave smiled. "Well I'm gonna go then, take her home."

"I'll locked up when we leave." Hotch said.

Dave nodded and grabbed his things. "See you in the morning Aaron."

"Night Dave." Hotch said. He waited for Dave to close the door before moving to Emily's side, kneeling down. "Em, come on sweetheart, time to go home."

Emily's eyes slowly blinked open and she focused on Hotch. "Hi."

Hotch smiled. "Hi, you fell asleep in Dave's office."

Emily nodded. "I was tired."

"Dave said he tried to get you to go home with JJ." Hotch said. "If you were tired, you should have gone."

"I wanted to be here." Emily said. "Are you done?"

Hotch nodded. "I am and Morgan took it all really well. He was surprised how much I actually do but I think he'll be able to handle it."

Emily sat up, her right hand drifting down to her stomach. "That's good, now we just have to figure out how long he has to handle it."

Hotch sat beside Emily, one of his hands also moving to Emily's stomach. "I don't think I'll be getting my chief position back until we catch Foyet."

"Which we will." Emily said.

"I know we will." Hotch said. "There really isn't much this team can't do." he noticed Emily yawn. "Let's get you home and fed so you can go back to sleep."

Hotch helped Emily stand and once all her files were back at her desk and they both had their things, they made their way out of the office together.

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

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So who now really wants Strauss to just 'vanish'? Yeah me too and I'm really thinking we should just let Dave have at her. No one would really turn him in. I mean come on he should be given a medal for getting rid of her. They should all get medals for just putting up with her. Anywho, let me know what you think, flame policy stands and thanks for reading.

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Sarah here! Can I help? Like really? Strauss eats at every nerve I have. It's 10am as I edit, so uh, if there's mini-mistakes, sorries. :) Kisses~Sarah P.S YAY 50 eppies for me!!!

Fifty stories, damn that's a lot. And yeah of course you can help Sarah, everyone can help. Someone really needs to take her down.


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